1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiments relate generally to laser systems and more particularly to laser system modules that combine multiple wavelength bands and scale output power.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wavelength beam combining (WBC) is a method for scaling the output power and brightness from laser diode bars, stacks of diode bars, as well as other lasers arranged in one or two-dimensional arrays.
WBC methods have been developed to combine beams along the slow dimension of each emitter as well as the fast dimension of each emitter. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,192,062, 6,208,679 and 2010/0110556 A1. In prior patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,192,062 and 6,208,679, beam combining is performed along the array dimension. These arrays and stacks may be increased to produce several kilowatts of power. However, these systems are designed to produce a single narrow-bandwidth high-brightness output beam profile. In some applications, it is desirable to have a broader bandwidth output while still maintaining high power and brightness. In some applications it is desirable to have a high-power spectrally broad multi-band laser system comprised of a plurality of high-brightness bands centered around a central wavelength, and where each of the bands are overlapped along a single optical pathway. A co-bore-sighted laser output that is spectrally broad and spatially compact has many uses in both commercial and military applications.
The following application seeks to solve the problems stated.